John Boos Company History

John Boos & Co. has crafted butcher block furniture for over 100 years and has been in business continuously since 1887. Conrad Boos founded the business in 1887 and named it for his son, John Boos. For many years he worked out of the blacksmith shop in Effingham, Illinois. The wood for his blocks was cut in wooded areas surrounding Effingham and was mostly sycamore lumber. The lumber was processed in his sawmill and sent to his shop for finishing. The plant operated from a blacksmith shop until 1892 and then it moved across town, and began producing the blocks as we know them now. Initially, the blocks were used by blacksmiths to straighten horseshoes. The heavy wood block absorbed the shock of the smith’s hammer. When a butcher saw the block where the anvil was resting, he realized he could use one in his meat market. John Boos made him one, and the rest is history. In the early days, the butcher blocks were built for commercial meat markets. At the turn of the century meat purchased at the local market was not refrigerated or frozen, but hung.

In 1892, the Boos family sold interest in the company to the Gravenhorst family. (There is currently a fifth generation Gravenhorst working for the company. In 1895 their factory building burnt and was rebuilt; however, in the year 1899, it was decided that more space was needed, and it was then that they moved to the present site in Effingham, IL. In 1920, extra buildings and kiln capacity were added. By the 1940s, John Boos butcher blocks were found in every restaurant, food store, and butcher shop in America. Then came World War II, which was instrumental in changing the manufacturing philosophy of the management at John Boos and also the course of the business.

Until the second world war, the company made the old-fashioned butcher block. The war brought about a need for other items, however, including foodservice tables, work tables, and tabletops. The Granite City (IL) Ordinance Depot was in charge of buying these items for the Army, Navy, and Marines for the mess halls and kitchens. These government contracts took up approximately 90 percent of Boos’ business, and the company wasn’t allowed to solicit any other business until it met the needs of the military. However, this led to the realization that John Boos & Co. could produce other items besides butcher blocks.

World's Largest Butcher Block by John Boos

Over the next 30 years, the company added office space, warehousing, and manufacturing space. In addition to the standard old-style butcher blocks, butcher block tops, which are laminated strips of northern hard rock maple or Appalachian red oak, were in great demand, not only in the foodservice industry, but also in the home. The company's demand for metal tables also grew in the foodservice and supermarket markets.

Today the company occupies approximately 150,000 sq.ft. of total production capacity in Effingham, IL and approximately 65,000 sq.ft. of manufacturing capacity in Philipsburg, PA and Suring, WI, which produce wooden school furniture. The company has four dry kilns that will dry up to 210,000 board feet of lumber on a continual basis. There are 140 employees in the Effingham facility. Most of the hardwoods used for manufacturing is shipped from Great Lakes states via truck, while our second largest commodity, stainless steel, comes from steel warehouses and distribution centers in Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. The company currently is cutting up about five million feet of maple and oak each year.

John Boos & Co. Cucina products, butcher blocks and cutting boards are being used by celebrity chefs throughout the United States, including in the White House. Celebrity chefs currently using John Boos products are Charlie Trotter, Ming Tsai, Paul Kahan, Susan Spicer at Bayona Restaurant in New Orleans, and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger at Border Grill in Santa Monica, California. In addition, the country’s premier food channel, “THE FOOD NETWORK” features chefs, such as Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse, who prepare meals every day on John Boos cutting boards. In most cases Boos cutting boards are used on the daily and weekly television programs sponsored for the chefs.